POLICE seized a haul of so-called legal highs, worth thousands of pounds on the street, from a Bradford shop on the day new legislation banned the substances.

Hundreds of packets of illegal drugs were openly on display behind the counter at Indica in Tong Street, when a police officer visited at lunchtime today.

The items were removed for destruction and the shop owner warned about his future conduct.

The premises was among six in Bradford and 35 across West Yorkshire which were checked on the day the Psychoactive Substances Act became law.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LEGAL HIGHS BAN

The legislation makes it illegal to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, or import and export psychoactive substances, known as legal highs.

Detective Constable Jamie Hudson, of West Yorkshire Police's Protective Services Crime department, said officers had visited shops, garages, other retail premises and 'head shops,' with the aim of removing Psychoactive Substances from public use.

He said the substances were chemicals designed to mimic controlled drugs, such as cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine.

He said the Tong Street shop still had a number of legal highs in the premises.

"These were behind the counter and not removed from public view," said Det Con Hudson.

"Under the new Act, West Yorkshire Police has seized these products to be destroyed."

Many of the items seized carried warnings 'not fit for human consumption'.

Among the seized drugs were Meow Meow, a slang name for the class B drug Mcat; Synthacaine, which is chemically related to cocaine; another drug synthetically related to cannabis; and Pandora's Box, a legal high with a skeleton and a raging fire on the packet.

Det Con Hudson said: "These products are very dangerous because nobody knows what is in them. One packet has killed people before. Potentially lives have been saved today."

The officer said the owners of the shop in Tong Street had known the Act was starting but still had illegal stock on the premises.

He said: "We spoke to the shop owners, who have co-operated with us and have allowed us to seize these products and remove them.

"They won't be prosecuted on this occasion, as it is the first day of the Act. However, this shop, and others like it, will be more robustly dealt with in the future if illegal products are found.

"They have been warned about their future conduct."

Det Con Hudson said about 440 packets of legal highs had been seized from the Tong Street premises, which would have an estimated street value of about £4,000.

Five other Bradford premises, including in Manningham Lane and Bowling Back Lane, were searched but no legal highs were found.

During the police visit, several people could be seen hanging around nearby or going in and out of the shop. One of them gesticulated at and threatened a Telegraph & Argus photographer as he took pictures of the premises.

The shop is in a row of terraced properties, mainly shops including a barber's, coffee shop, fish and chip shop and pizza takeaway.